Work preparation device



June 8, 1965 c. J. WHEELER WORK PREPARATION DEVICE Filed Oct 24, 1963 R 3c N- n 2 on 8 s N INVENTOR. CHARLES J. WHEELER 0422i fwlkv ATTORNEY United States Patent "ice 3,137,361 WORKPREPARATHON DEVICE Charles .I. Wheeler, Mentor, Ohio, assignor to Ric-Will, Incorporated, Barberton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Oct. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 319,924 14' Claims. (Cl. -88) This is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 192,423, filed May 4, 1962, and now abandoned.

This invention pertains to Work preparation devices and more specifically to that class of device designed for the cleaning of surfaces of tubing and couplings prior to the bonding of the coupling and tubing together.

In present day fluid systems such as plumbing for homes and other buildings, it is customary to cut copper or plastic tubing to appropriate length and then connect the lengths of tubing together with suitable couplings. Usually the end of each tube is telescoped into a coupling, and in the case of copper tubing and couplings, the coupling and tube are soldered together. In the case of plastic an adhesive or solvent is used to bond the coupling to the tubing. In either event precleaning of the surfaces being secured together is essential. In the case of copper it is desirable to clean the oxide coating and any impurities from the surfaces to be soldered, so that the solder will firmly adhere to the surfaces. In the case of plastic it is also important to remove dirt and impurities, and

in addition in both casesa roughened surface is helpful in the obtainment of a firm and proper bond.

In the past in the installation of plumbing the most common practice has been manual abrasive cleaning of the surfaces to be bonded together as with emery cloth. Attempts have been made to manufacture machines suitable for cleaning the couplingsand tubing, but these machines have all had inherent drawbacks. Generally speaking they have been bench type machines which required that. the tubing and couplings be brought to the machine, rather than the machine to the tubing and couplings. Thus, for example, it was impossible to clean either a coupling or a tubing with the coupling in place. In addition, the previous mechanisms have been unduly complex and expensive.

In addition, the previous mechanisms have required a' number of brushes in order to have cleaning of all sizes of couplings and the like, and the previous mechanisms have been designed in manners which have produced relatively short brush life. Attempts have been made to con-.

Patented June 8, 1965 control the amount of positioner rotation relative to the shaft with it the relative rotatingg speed of the brush 7 a rota-ting brush and the workpiece is gripped between the positioner and the brush so that the force of the brush rotating will also cause the entire work tool to orbit thereby cleaning a complete ring-like portion of a surface to be bonded.

Another object of this invention is toprovide a motor driven brush with a work positioner journaled on the motor shaft with an arm rotatable about the brush, the arm biased toward the brush and a slippablepad to cause the arm to orbit about the brush.

A further object of the invention is to provide a work preparation tool with a positioner orbital about a brush and a brake to control the orbital rate. e Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which: I

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational View of the device with parts broken away and removed 'to show the work positioner support assembly in cross-section;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged scale sectional view of the device as seen from the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1; j

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view in the scale of FIGURE 2 of the device as seen from the planes indicated by the line 33 of FIGURE 1; and,

FIGURE 4 is a schematic circuit diagram of the motor connections of the device of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings and to FIGURE 4 in particular a motor is shown generally at It). The motor portable and versatile tool has been-provided for efficient- T 1y cleaning all sizes of tubing and couplings. With the present device two brushes ofdifferent diameter are secured together in axial alignment to work as a single brush. The brushes are secured'dire otly' to the output shaft of a lightweight reversible motor. An orbital workpiece positioner is journaled on the shaft and. biased toward the brush. The wall of the member to be cleaned It has an elongated output shaft '11. A rotatable brush having a large portion 12 and a'srnaller portion 13 is secured to the outer end of the shaft 11.

A support for a work positioner is provided :at .15. A housing 31 extends forwardly from the motor 10 partially surrounding the support positioner 15. A bearQ ing l iis carried by the housing 31. to journal the positioner. The support 15 is also .journaledon the shaft 11, between the motor 10 and the brush stabilizing the shaft.

A work positioner is provided at 16; The work positioner has a shaft portion 1'7 which is journaled in the support 15. The shaft portion 17 of the work positioner 16 is journaled for rotation about a longitudinal axis which is transverse with respect to the motor shaft 11.

is inserted between the brush and the positioner and pressedagainst the surface to be cleaned. With the positioner maintaining the brush in contact; with the surface to be machined and the motor running, the resistance of the surface being cleaned to the brush will cause the brush to move itself around the surface'being cleaned at The shaft portion 17 is secured against axial movement relative to the support lS. In the disclosed arrangement" thissecurement is obtainedthrough the coaction of a cap screw 18 which proiects into a groove 19 formed in the shaft portion 17. This cap screw 18 is threaded in a suitable hole in the support 15 which intercepts and is transverse to a second hole in which the shaft portion 17 is journaled. a

The work positioner 16 includes a forwardly extending arm 20. The forwardly extending arm 20 generally parallels the shaft it though it is pivotalabout the axis of the shaft portion l7. An intermediate portion 36 extends laterally relative to the shaft portion 17 and connects the arm 2t? to the shaft portion 17. The arm 2 0is disposed off-center of a plane passing through the shaft 11 and the pivotal connection of the shaft portion 17 and thes'upport 15. The arm 20 terminates at an outer end 21 near the large brush portion 12. A work contacting roller ring 23 is journaled on the arm 20 near its outer end 21. This work contacting roller ring 23 rides along a surface of the workpiece on the opposite side of the workpiece wall from the surface being treated by the brush. This operation will be described in greater detail below.

A spring 24 is connected to the arm 20 and to the support 15 to bias the arm inwardly toward the large brush portion 12. In the arrangement shown the tensioning of the spring is adjustable. In this arrangement shown, an extension 25 projects forwardly from the main body of the support 15. A stud 26 extends through a suitable aperture in the extension 25 and is connected to the spring 24. A lock nut 27 is threaded on the stud 26 to lock the stud in a selected and adjusted position.

For reasons which will become apparent in the succeeding discussion, it is desirable to cause the support 15 to rotate with the shaft 11 at some times, and at other times to prevent rotation of the support 15. In order to cause the support 15 to rotate with the shaft 11 a clutch in the form of a slippable pad 28 is carried by the support 15. This slippable pad 28 is adjustably urged into engagement with a bushing 29 fixed to the shaft 11 by an adjustment screw 30. In other words, the slippable pad 28, as urged into engagement with the bushing 29 by the adjustment screw 30, provides a friction drive connection between the support 15 and the shaft 11. If there is no slippage between the pad 28 and the bushing 29, then the arm 20 will orbit or rotate about the axis of the shaft 15 at the same rotational speed as the brush 12. However, it is desirable that the arm 20 rotate about the axis of the shaft 11 at a slower speed than the brush 12 to assure maximum efiectiveness of the brushes 12, 13 and to permit some degree of control of the brush as it moves around the tube to be cleaned. In order to limit rotation of the support 15 a brake mechanism is supplied.

The open ended housing 31 is secured to the forward end of the motor 10, and it extends forwardly covering a part of the support 15. A lever 32 is pivotally carried by the housing 31. The support 15 has a peripheral braking groove 33 near its rearward end. A flexible brake band 34 is disposed in part within the groove 33 and connected to the lever 32. The operator applies manual pressure to the lever 32 when he wishes to prevent, or inhibit, rotation of the support 15. The amount of rotation of the support 15, then, will depend upon the amount of leverage applied to the flexible brake band, 34 as it engages the brake groove 33.

When one wishes to clean the peripheral surface of a tube prior to connecting it to a coupling, the Wall of the tube is inserted between the large brush portion 12 and the work engaging ring 23. The work positioner including the ring 23 is biased by the spring 24 toward the brush 12 to press the tube to be cleaned into tight cleaning abutment with the brush 12. The cleaning of a peripheral surface of a tube is depicted bythe phantom showing of a workpiece in FIGURE 1.

With the tube positioned relative to the tool as suggested by FIGURE 1 the motor is turned on and the brush is caused to rotate. As the brush rotates it will walk around the tube burnishing the surface of the tube. Simultaneously, the work positioner will maintain the brush in contact with the periphery of the tube so that a cleaning and burnishing operation is performed. A rate of orbiting of the brush around the tube depends on and is controlled by the amount of relative rotation of the work support 15 and the work positioner 16 relative to the shaft 11 and the brush. Thus, if the lever 32 is depressed with great force so as to prevent any rotation at all of the support 15, the brush will not orbit at all, but rather will stay in one place and clean a localized area. If on the other hand the brake is completely released, the only resistance to the support 15 rotating with the shaft 11 and allowing the entire device to orbit very rapidly is the resistance of the operators hand as he carries the motor 10. Within these two limits of no orbiting at all and very fast orbiting infinite control is obtained according to the amount of pressure that is applied to the brake band 34. For this reason the proper speed of the brush relative to the surface being cleaned can be obtained by an appropriate amount of pressure applied to the brake.

When one wishes to clean an internal surface such as the surface of a coupling, the brush 12 is inserted into the interior of the tube to be cleaned. This time the work engaging rotating ring 23 rides around the peripheral surface of the tube with the wall of the tube again pressed between the ring and the brush. The cleaning of an internal surface is depicted by the phantom shown in FIG- URE 3. Again, orbiting is obtained at a speed which is dependent on the pressure applied to the lever 32.

The purpose of the smaller brush 13 is for cleaning the interior of smaller size couplings. Thus, if, for example, one wishes to clean the interior of a one-half inch coupling he simply telescopes the smaller brush portion 13 into the coupling and causes the brush to rotate. In the preferred arrangement, then, the larger brush portion 12 is of a size too large for the smallest coupling.

One of the features of this invention is that the motor 10 is reversible. The purpose of this is that the bristles of the brush tend to become bent by continued rotation in one direction. This bending very materially shortens the life of the brush and in addition reduces the cleaning ability. By periodically reversing the device and running the brush in the opposite direction the bristles are flexed back to their original condition thus maintaining them straight and such that good cleaning is obtained with the ends of the brush. This not only produces faster cleaning but also very materially increases the life of the brush.

Through this reversing another and less obvious feature of the invention is obtained. In the preferred construction, the motor is a conventional universal motor preferably of a concentrated pole type and only the connections of the brushes are reversed to reverse the direction of motor rotation. In reversing the connections of the brushes, the motor runs at a lower speed in the reverse direction. If, for example, one is cleaning a short nipple, the lower speed facilitates the operation, especially when the nipple is hand held. The higher speed in the forward direction is desirable for obtaining fast cleaning action on tubing which is rigidly held in place. The higher speed in the forward direction is also desirable for cleaning large tubing because of the increased circumference to be cleaned.

The electrical connections for the universal motor 10 to obtain this reversible, two-speed operation are shown I in FIGURE 4. The motor 10 includes field windings 40, 41, a commutator 42, and commutator brushes 43, 44. One end of each of the field windings 40, 41 are connected by conductors 46,- 47 to a siutable voltage source L1, L2, for example volts A.C. The other ends of the field windings 40, 41 are connected to a pair of fixed contacts 48, 49 of a double pole, double throw swich 50. The switch 50 includes a second pair of fixed contacts 51, 52 and a pair of movable contacts 53, 54 which are selectively engageable with either pair of fixed contacts 48, 49 or 51, 52.

Conductors 55, 56 connect the movable contacts 53, 55 to the brushes 43, 44 respectively. A conductor 57 connects the fixed contact 48 to the fixed contact 52. A conductor 58 connects the fixed contact 49 to the fixed contact 51. When the movable contacts 53, 54 engage the fixed contacts 48, 49, the direction of forward rotation of the commutator is clockwise as indicated by the arrow 59. Moving the movable contacts to the fixed contacts 51, 52 reverses the connection of the brushes 43, 44 and causes reverse rotation of the commutator and the armature in a counter-clockwise direction.

rotation of the commutator.

The electrical neutral and the mechanical neutral of t the motor is represented by the line N6. The brushes 43, 44 are positioned on the commutator 42 away from the electrical neutral in a direction against the clockwise Positioning the brushes 43, 44 in this manner towards the load neutral increases the speed of the motor because of improved operating conditions. When the armature connections are reversed to provide reverse rotation, then the brushes 43, 44 are in effect shifted away from the neutral N-S and in the direction of rotation which results in a lowerspeed.

While the invention has been described with detail it is believed that it essentially comprises a work preparation device for cleaning the surface of a tube, which device includes a housing with a shaft journaled in it, a workpiece cleaning tool on the shaft, a motor for driving the shaft, a guide means connected to the housing and spaced from the tool sufficiently to permit the wall of a tube to be cleaned to be inserted between the guide means and the brush and a brake to control the speed of orbiting of the guide relative to the brush. The invention also contemplates a reversible motor which operates at different speed when reversed.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangemen-t'of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A work preparation device for cleaning a surface ofatubular objectcomprising:

(a) a motor including a housing member;

(b) a driven output'shaft member connected to the motor; s e V a (c) a brush connected to one end of the shaft member remote from the motor;

((1) a work piece positioner support journaled on one of the members for rotation about the shaft member;

(e) .a workpiece positioner including a forwardly extending arm generally paralleling the shaft and having a forward end near said brush, said positioner being moveably carried by the positioner support for movement relative to the brush;

(f) a spring connected to the arm and to the positioner support and biasing the arm toward the brush;

(g) an adjustable friction drive interconnecting said shaft member and the positioner support to drive the positioner; and,

(h) brake means between the housing member and the positioner support for controlling the speed of positioner rotation relative to the housing member.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the brush has portions of different diameters with the larger portion between the small portion and the motor.

3. A work preparationdevice for cleaning a surface of a tubular object comprising:

(a) amotorincludingahousing member; V

(b) a driven output shaft member connected to the motor; t

(c) a brush connected to one end of the shaft member remote from the motor; s

(d) awork piece positioner support journaled on one of the members for rotation about the shaft member;

(e) a workpiece positioner including a forwardly extending arm generally paralleling the shaft member and having a forward end near said brush, said posi (g) a slippable drive connection between said shaft member and said positioner to drive the positioner support;

l (h) a support including a peripheral groove disposed concentrically around the shaft;

(i) a lever pivotally connected to the housing member;

and,

(j) a belt secured to the lever and wrapped around the support with a portion of the belt positioned in the groove; r

4. A work preparation device for cleaning a surface of a tubular object comprising: 7

(a) p a reversible motor having an output shaft driven at different speeds in opposite directions;

(b) a brush connected to one end of the shaft remote from the motor;

(c) a support for a work piece positioner journaled on the shaft between the motor and the brush;

(d) a work piece positioner journaled in the support for rotation about an axis transverse to the axis of the motor shaft;

(e) said positioner including a forwardly extending arm generally paralleling the shaft and having a forward end near said brush;

(f) a work engaging ringjournaled on the arm adjacent its forward end; V

(g) a spring between the support and the arm and V biasing the arm toward the brush;

(h) said support including a peripheral groove disposed concentrically around the shaft;

(i) a lever pivotaly connected to the motor;

(j) a belt secured to the lever and wrapped around the support with a portion of the belt positioned in the groove;

(k) a friction pad carried by the support; and,

(1) means carried by the support and urging the pad into slippable engagement with the shaft to cause rotation of said positioner about the axis of said shaft. v

5. A workpiece preparation device for cleaning a surface of a tubular object comprising:

(a) ahousing member;

(b) a shaft member extending beyond said housing member;

' (c) motor means connected to said shaft member to said shaft member to cause rotation of said positioner relative to at least one of said members when said shaft member is rotating, 6. The device of claim 5 wherein said drive means is selectively adjustable to vary the rate of rotation of said positioner relative to said shaft and housing members.

7. A workpiece preparation device for cleaning a surface of a tubular object comprising:

(a) ahousing; V

(b) a drive shaft journaled in said housing, one end of said drive shaft extending beyond said housing;

(c) motor means connected to said drive shaft to rotate it relative to said housing;

(d) a workpiece preparation tool attached to said one end of said shaft and rotatable with it, said tool being spaced from said housing;

(e) a workpiece positioner having:

(i) a support member rotatably journaled on said shaft and disposedin the space between said tool r and said housing;

(ii) an arm member extending from said, support member forwardly and including a longitudinal portion generally paralleling said shaft,jsaid arm member including a forward end near said tool; and,

(f) drive means operatively connecting said support member to said shaft to cause said workpiece positioner to rotate relative to said housing.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein said drive means is .adjustably variable for adjusting the speed of rotation of the workpiece positioner relative to said housing and said shaft.

9. The device of claim 7 including, in combination:

(g) said drive means including:

(i) a friction drive connection between said support member and said shaft; and,

(h) a variable brake means connected to said housing and operatively engaging said support member to control the rate of rotation of said workpiece positioner relative to said housing and said shaft by selective adjustment of the variable brake means.

10. The device of claim 7 including, in combination:

(g) said arm member further including:

(i) a transverse portion extending transversely relative to said shaft and pivotally connected to said support member;

(ii) said longitudinal portion extending generally parallel relative to said shaft when said forward end is near said tool; and,

(iii) a portion connecting said transverse and 1ongitudinal portions and disposing said longitudinal portions off-center of a plane passing through said shaft and the pivotal connection of said transverse portion and said support member;

(h) said arm member being pivotal between a first position wherein its forward end'is near said tool and a second position wherein said forward end is away from said tool; and,

(i) means resiliently interconnecting said arm and support members and normally biasing said forward end near said tool.

11. The device of claim 7 wherein said tool is a brush and said motor is reversible for selective reverse rotation of said shaft and the brush connected to said shaft.

12. The device of claim 9 wherein said brush has portions of different diameters with the smallest portions disposed forwardly of the larger portions.

13. A portableworkpiece preparation device for cleaning a surface of a tubular object comprising:

(a) a portable housing member;

(b) a drive shaft member journaled in said housing member, one end of said shaft member extending beyond said housing member;

(c) motor means disposed in said housing member and operatively connected to said shaft member to rotate y it relative to said housing member;

((1) a workpiece preparation tool attached to said one end of said shaft member and rotatable with it;

(e) a workpiece positioner having a support rotatably journaled on one of said members and an arm extending from said support forwardly and terminating in a forward end near said tool;

(f) said arm including:

(i) a transverse portion extending transversely relative to said shaft member and pivotally connected to said support;

(ii) a longitudinal portion extending generally parallel relative to said shaft member when said forward end is near said tool; and,

(iii) a portion connecting said transverse and longitudinal portions and disposing said longitudinal portion off-center of a plane passing through said shaft member and the pivotal connection of said transverse portion and said support;

(g) said arm being pivotal between a first position wherein its forward end is near said tool and a second position wherein said forward end is away from said tool; and,

(h) means resiliently interconnecting said arm and support and normally biasing said forward end near said tool.

- 14. The device of claim 13 including, in combination:

(i) friction drive means operatively connecting said support to said shaft member to provide a slippable driving connection of said support to said shaft member so that said arm is caused to rotate relative to said housing member; and,

(j) variable brake means carried by said housing member and frictionally engaging said support so that said positioner is caused to rotate relative to said housing and shaft members by selective adjustment of the braking friction in relation to the driving friction.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,305,079 12/42 Heldenbrand 15104.04 2,618,797 11/52 Grover 15-23 2,816,304 12/57 Peterson 15--23 2,866,212 12/58 White et al. 15--88 CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WORK PREPARATION DEVICE FOR CLEANING A SURFACE OF A TUBULAR OBJECT COMPRISING: (A) A MOTOR INCLUDING A HOUSING MEMBER; (B) A DRIVEN OUTPUT SHAFT MEMBER CONNECTED TO THE MOTOR; (C) A BRUSH CONNECTED TO ONE END OF THE SHAFT MEMBER REMOTE FROM THE MOTOR; (D) A WORK PIECE POSITIONER SUPPORT JOURNALED ON ONE OF THE MEMBERS FOR ROTATION ABOUT THE SHAFT MEMBER; (E) A WORKPIECE POSITIONER INCLUDING A FORWARDLY EXTENDING ARM GENERALLY PARALLELING THE SHAFT AND HAVING A FORWARD END NEAR SAID BRUSH, SAID POSITIONER BEING MOVEABLY CARRIED BY THE POSITIONER SUPPORT FOR MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO THE BRUSH; (F) A SPRING CONNECTED TO THE ARM AND TO THE POSITIONER SUPPORT AND BIASING THE ARM TOWARD THE BRUSH; (G) AN ADJUSTABLE FRICTION DRIVE INTERCONNECTING SAID SHAFT MEMBER AND THE POSITIONER SUPPORT TO DRIVE THE POSITIONER; AND (H) BRAKE MEANS BETWEEN THE HOUSING MEMBER AND THE POSITIONER SUPPORT FOR CONTROLLING THE SPEED OF POSITIONER ROTATION RELATIVE TO THE HOUSING MEMBER. 